Turkish--Armenian Relations

During 2021-2022, a team of postdoctoral researchers are participating in a Turkish-Armenian Relations project. The seven researchers are working on independent research, focused on aspects of relations between Armenians, Turks, and (where relevant) other communities that have surrounded them.

Their areas of research include:

• Recent initiatives (1999-2021) addressing the multicultural past of the Kurdish-Armenian region of Turkey and the 1915 genocide, of which the city of Diyarbakır was the scene. 
• The impact of the 2020 Karabakh war and Turkey’s involvement in it on perception of and discourse about Turkey and Turks in Armenia. 
• Official discourse developed around reconciliation as represented in the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet (for the years 2000-2015). 
• The role of treasure hunts (definecilik) in Trabzon, Turkey, as instances of remembering. 
• Prospects for peace-building between Armenia and Turkey in a non-democratic context. (A collaborative project.)
• The Armenian community in modern Turkey from the establishment of the Republic in 1923 to the September pogroms in Istanbul in 1955.

Researchers in this project receive support in the form of mentoring from senior scholars in the field, together with training in media and policy work delivered by the Cambridge Interfaith Programme. Regular workshops provide opportunities to exchange findings, discuss analysis, and strengthen scholarly networks.

All scholars will produce peer-reviewed journal articles, write for newspapers and general media (explaining their work for a non-specialist audience), and prepare and submit a policy briefing.

Further reading

The following publications have been generated in the course of this project:

[In English:]

• “Post-war distrust complicates new Armenia-Turkey talks”, OpenDemocracy. 12 January 2022.

[In Turkish:]

Within a special issue of the periodical Birikim, on the topic Yeni bir hatırlama kültürüne doğru [Towards a new culture of remembering]

• Geçmeyen Bir Geçmişle Yüzleşmenin Zorlukları: Ermeni Soykırımı ve Kürt Müdahil Öznelliğinin Dönüşümü, Birikim, no 392 (December), pp. 34-52, 2021.
  ["The challenges of facing an inexorable past: The Armenian Genocide and the transformation of Kurdish intervening subjectivity"]
• Hatırlama kültürü ve şimdiki zaman, Birikim, no 392 (December), pp. 53-60, 2021.
  ["The culture of remembering and the present"]

Note: This project is funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. The views expressed are those of the participants and do not reflect the views of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.